Plate metal sill brace and draft gear stop



July 6, i948. w. F. DIETRICHSON ETAL PLATE METAL SILL BRACE AND DRAFT GEAR STOP med Feb. s, 1944 2 Sheets-Sheet l v July f6, 1948 I w, F. DIETRlcHsoN'jrIAL 2,444,637 PLATE IETL SIL.: BRACE NDl DRAFT .GEAR-STOPl Filed Feb. 5. 1944 z Sheets-sheet 2 -BY ATTORNEY Patented July 6, 1948 PLATE METAL SILL BRACE AND DRAFT GEAR STOP William F. Dietrichson and John Christiansen, Berwick, Pa., assgnors to American Car and Foundry Company, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New Jersey Application February 5, 1944, Serial No. 521,196

1 Claim.

This invention relates to center sill braces and draft gear stops in general and in particular to such braces and draft gear stops fabricated from plate metal and involving a minimum number of parts.

For a good many years center sill braces and Idraft gear stops have been made of cast steel but are excessively heavy due to the vlow strength value of the material and due to the fact that large radii must be used at all corners. In recent years, due to improved welding technique, center braces and back stops have been built up of welded members, involving, however, a large number of parts. Since the use of a large number of parts welded together necessarily involves application of a large amount of Welding heat, distortion is bound to appear. Some distortion may be overcome by Welding the parts to the massive center sills, but with such a construction it is practical ly impossible to repair in case of damage. It is an object, therefore, of the present invention to provide a complete plate metal center sill brace and draft gear stop fabricated from a minimum number of parts and which may be applied as a unit to the center sills.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a center sill brace and draft gear stop member made of plate metal pressed to suitable shape and reinforced by other plate metal members.

A still further object of the invention is the provision of a plate metal center sill brace and draft gear stop in which the draft gear stops are effectively braced by channel shaped buttressing members.

These and other objects of the invention will be apparent to persons skilled in the art from a study of the following description and accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a plan View of the improved structure;

Fig. 2 is a sectional View taken substantially on line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken substantially on line 3--3 of Fig. 1 but with parts of the draft gear stop broken away to better disclose the bracing construction Fig. 4 is a sectional View similar to Fig. 3 but showing a slight modification thereof;

Fig. 5 is a sectional view similar to Fig. 3 but showing a still-further modification;

Fig. 6 is a sectional view similar to Fig. 3 but showing another slight modification in that the brace may -be built in halves;

Fig. '7 is a detail elevational view of a slightly modified form of draft stop brace, and

` Fig. 8 is a sectional view taken substantially on line 8--8 of Fig. 7.

Referring now to the drawings in detail, it will be seen that the combined center sill brace and draft gear stop member has been shown as applied to center sills of the fish belly type. These center sills, as clearly shown in the figures, are made with a web plate 2, top chord or flange members Il turned outwardly from the web plates for attachment to the car floor or center sill cover plate 6, whichever is used. The bottom edge of the web plate is reinforced by out-turned bottom chord angles 8 and inturned chord angles ll). Chord members 4, 8 and lil provide the stiffening flanges for the web plate 2 as is customary in either plain or fish belly sills of the built-up type.

The center sill brace and draft gear stop member, as shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, is of general channel shape cross-section, having vertically eX- tending flanges I2 offset as at Ill to provide inwardly offset fiange portions I6 adapted to be attached to the upstanding leg of inturned chord angle IfI. Thus the flanges of the channel shaped =center sill brace are located in substantially parallel offset planes in order that they may be attached to the web plate 2 and bottom chord II). The upstanding flanges are connected together by Web I8. This web, as clearly shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, is provided with a central pan shaped depression 2li projecting downwardly between the adjacent edges of bottom chord angles Ill. This pan shaped depression is of sufficient depth so as to bring the bottom 22 thereof substantially into the plane of the bottom edges of the center sill bottom chords 8 and IE), this for the purpose of receiving the bolster bottom cover or center sill bowl, whichever is used in direct contact with the sills. The upper edges of the flanges I2 of the center sill brace are reflanged as at 24. These reflanges are directed toward each other and, as clearly shown in Fig. 1, are of gradually decreasing depth from the outer to the inner end of the center sill brace. Draft gear stop-s 26 of heavy yplate metal bear against and are securely welded to the web I8, flange portions IZ and I6 and reflange portions 2li of the center sill brace. In order to buttress the draft gear stops, channel shaped stiffeners are provided having Webs 28, upper flanges 3Il and lower fianges 32. The upper and lower flanges of these channel shaped stiifeners are of decreasing depth from adjacent the draft gear stop to a point rearwardly thereof and are securely welded to the flange portions I2 flange portions l2 and I6 and web I 8 as Well asto a semi-circular member 4Z, which is in turn'welded to the depressed pan .portion 20 formed inthe web i8. The semi-circular members A42 are joined together by longitudinally extending brace plates 44 which in turn are Welded to the depresed pan portion 2li. The semi-circular portions 42 are, as stated, joined'together by plates In exceptionally heavy service it may be advisable to shape the channel shaped stiieners as shown in Figs. 7 and 8 and it is understood that these stileners can be substituted for the form shown in Figs. 3, 1, 5 and 6. As clearly shown, the web portion 28 is extended beyond the flanges 30 and 32 and inclined inwardly 'as at 60 for direct Weld attachment to ange l2. In this manner the web portion 28 is buttressed to flange I2 and assists flanges 39 and 32 in bracing the cen- Vtral portion ofthe draft gear stops 26.

44 and mutually serve to provide a king pin receiving opening 45.

vvIt will be seen from the preceding description that the `center sill brace and draft gear stop is formed by a main channel shaped pressing, two small channel shaped stiieners and two draft gear stops, securely welded together and braced by VtheV tie-plates 40 and buttressing plates 44 which, together with the semi-circular members 42, form the king pin guide. It will be seen that allof these parts may be prefabrioated and securely attached together in a iig, after which the assembly maybe applied to the center sills and held in place by the rivets 36 and i48.

i In some shops it may be desirable to eliminate the pan shaped depression Zit and this may be done, as shown in Fig. fl, by leaving the web It at andsecurely welding in a filler plate 53 of a thickness substantially equal to the thickness of the flanges of the bottom chord l0. Otherwise, the structure disclosed in Fig. 4 is identical with that previously described and similar reference characters are accordingly applied.

In some cases, particularly where certain alloy steels'are used, it may be found advantageous to eliminate the reflanges 24 shown and described in Figs. l to 3. In such a case the center sill brace will be as shown in Fig. 5. With the reiianges eliminated it is advisable that the tie plates 52 corresponding to tie plates 40 be extended substantiallyto the top of the anges of the main channel shaped pressing and short buttressing plates 53 welded in to take the place of the reflanges. The remainder of the structure is the same as described in Figs. l-to 3 and accordingly the same reference numerals have been applied.

Certain small shops may iind it impossible to make the mainpressing shown and described in Figs. 1 to 3, but in such cases the parts may be made in twohalves and securely welded together as at d in Fig. 6. In other words, the pressing of' Figs.' 1 to 3 may be split substantially at the center of the depressed pan portion and the partswelded together. In this manner the dies will Abe simplified and smaller` capacity presses may be used.

While the improved construction has been described more or lessin detail and with specic reference to certain modifications, it will be obvious that other modifications and rearrangements of parts may be made and all such modifications and rearrangements of parts are contemplatedas fall within the scope of the appended claim defining our invention.

What is claimed is:

As an article of manufacture, a plate metal center siil brace and draft gear stop comprising, a pair vof angle shaped pressings having vertical and horizontal flanges each laterally oli'set, to accommodate the bottom chord angles of a center sill, back sto-ps overlapping and we'lded'toA one end of the fianges 4of said angle shaped pr-essings, buttressing means secured to said back stops and vertical flanges rearwardly of the back stops, spaced semi-cylindrical vertical members fixed at their lower ends to the horizontal flanges of said pressing and arranged medially between the vertical anges of same, transversely extendingY vertically arranged tie plates fixed at their outer and lower edges to the flanges of said pre's'sirigs, and having their inner upright edges secured to the outer adjacent faces of said cylindrical members, and longitudinally extending braces extending medially between the vertical flanges 'ofsaid pressings and secured to the horizontal ilanges of same, one of the Vertical edges of each of the longitudinal braces extending between and' being attached to the spaced semi-cylindrical m'embers and forming a connecting'means therebetween.

WILLIAM F. DIETRICHSON. JOHN CHRISTIANSEN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le of this patent:

UNITED STATS PATENT S 

